How to be Human
by OUt'Of'pEnAmEs
Summary: God, Shadowhunters just seem to have no common sense. In which, Clary is witty and not useless; well… someone has to teach them the means of life.


**Chapter One: What it means to be human**

**Note: Now, don't get me wrong, I love Jace and the gang, I really do, I just would love to see how this scene would go other ways. **

**Summary: Ever wonder how certain scenes would go on in the book, instead of the usually 'oops' situations. God, Shadowhunters just seem to have no common sense. In which, Clary is witty and not useless; well… someone has to teach them the means of life. **

**Disclaimer: I do not own the Mortal Instruments Series, or the characters.**

* * *

Clary was an average human being, except for the fact that she was an artist, much like her mother. However unlike her mother, she wasn't beautiful, she had red hair, green eyes, freckles, a small bust and narrow hips. She truly couldn't understand how her best friend could like her; she was stubborn, and not easy to deal with. But there was also the fact that, well, she was a trouble maker, trouble followed her –such as in this situation, she had for whatever reason followed the cute electric haired boy and the other two boys with blades into the storage. And ended up here "Stop!" she commanded. "You can't do this."

Jace whirled, so startled that the knife flew from his hand and clattered against the concrete floor. Isabelle and Alec turned along with him, wearing identical expressions of astonishment. Clary didn't know if she should feel pride in stopping them in their tracks or stupidity because now everyone's attention was turned to her.

The blue-haired boy hung in his bonds, stunned and gaping.

It was Alec who spoke first. "What's this?" he demanded, looking from Clary to his companions, as if they might know what she was doing there. Though Clary highly doubted it, since she herself didn't know what she was doing or why she allowed herself to be in this situation.

"It's a girl," Jace said, recovering his composure. "Surely you've seen girls before, Alec. Your sister Isabelle is one." He took a step closer to Clary, squinting as if he couldn't quite believe what he was seeing. "A mundie girl," he said, half to himself. "And she can see us."

"Of course I can see you," Clary informed him in an almost know-it-all tone. "I'm not blind, you know."

"Oh, but you are," said Jace, bending to pick up his knife. "You just don't know it." He straightened up yet still watched her, like prey, she realized and just watched him almost interested. "You'd better get out of here, if you know what's good for you."

"I'm not going anywhere," Clary told him, once more. "If I do, you'll kill him." She pointed at the boy with the blue hair.

"That's true," admitted Jace, twirling the knife between his fingers. Clary watched him almost astonished and then turned gapping at his next words. "What do you care if I kill him or not?"

"You can't just go around killing people." She told them standing her ground and walking forward, to see if the boy was alright.

"You're right," said Jace. "You can't go around killing _people._" He pointed at the boy with blue hair, whose eyes were slated. Clary wondered if he'd fainted. "That's not a person, little girl."

"Right," Clary interrupted. "And I'm a purple spotted elephant." She informed him dryly. Jace watched her astonished; she sighed and then ran her hand through her hair. "And he is a person." She enlightened him.

"Huh?"

Again the sigh escaped her lips, "See, he looks human like you said, and so do you and I. There are also the biological needs –to allow your nine body systems to function and flourish." They watched her carefully. "He has those needs."

"But he only looks human." Isabelle told her, still astonished that a mundie would tell them off.

"Yes, but he has his body systems otherwise he couldn't think or act or breath." Just as they were about to cut her off, she continued almost in a rush. "Also he can bleed, and that means he has water – meaning he has other essentials in his body such as potassium, calcium, magnesium, probably some mercury and chlorine."

They didn't seem to have anything to say to that.

"Then there are the physiological needs –emotions, both internal and external, and since he has showed pain –that is an emotion."

"But all animals have emotions."

"Other then rage and hunger, only humans can utilize the others." She paused, and decided to add, just for good measure then next. "And he can do that."

"He isn't human!" Jace snarled out and Clary raised an eyebrow. "Look little girl, he may look like one and act like one and even bleed like one, but he's a monster."

"Coming from the guy who wants to kill him that's not much." She replied sardonically. Jace's eyes narrowed, but just as he was about to answer, the blue-haired boy, with a high, yowling cry, tore free of the restraints binding him to the pillar, and flung himself on Jace. He didn't get far as Clary outstretched her leg, nearest to Jace and kicked the poor sucker. He almost fell but then attacked the other boy. They fell to the ground and rolled together, the blue-haired boy tearing at Alec with hands that glittered as if tipped with metal. But Alec didn't freeze, he slammed the hilt of his sword over the thing and then he fell down. Jace then sank the knife into the boy's chest. Blackish liquid exploded around the hilt.

The boy arched off the floor, gurgling and twisting. With a grimace Jace stood up. His black shirt was blacker now in some places, wet with blood. He looked down at the twitching thing at his feet, reached down, and yanked out the knife. The hilt was slick with black fluid.

The blue-haired boy's eyes flickered open. His eyes, fixed on Jace, seemed to burn. Between his teeth, he hissed, "_So be it. The Forsaken will take you all._"

Jace seemed to snarl. The boy's eyes rolled back. His body began to jerk and twitch as he crumpled, folding in on himself, growing smaller and smaller until he vanished entirely. Clary scrambled to her feet, she didn't notice the wire that wrapped around her feet until now. The boys were checking each other for wounds and Isabella helped until Clary made a sudden motion –her phone had dropped. "Oops." She sighed.

Isabella flicked the whip toward Clary who was about to pick up her phone, and the end wrapped itself around her wrist and jerked tight. Clary gasped with surprise.

"Stupid little mundie," Isabelle said between her teeth. "You could have gotten Jace killed."

"He's capable," Clary said, picking up her phone, the whip bit deeper into her skin. Clary glanced at the spot where the boy had disappeared from, and expected something, anything to happen. There wasn't even a smear of blood there -- nothing to show that the boy had ever existed. "They return to their home dimensions when they die," said Jace. "In case you were wondering."

"Thanks for that little bit of information." Clary said caustically and undoing the whip from her wrist. The whip slithered away.

"You let us kill him."

Clary shrugged and responded. "Turns out he was dangerous."

"So you admit he isn't human." Alec tried.

"Oh, he was human, just a dangerous human." Clary clarified.

"No he isn't."

"Yes he is."

"No."

"Yes."

"No."

"Yes."

"No."

"Yes."

"Nu-uh"

"Yea-huh"

"Nu-uh"

"Yea-huh"

"No he isn't."

"Did he bleed?"

"Yes." Alec admitted uneasily.

"Did he breath?" Clary went on.

"Yes." Alec snapped out this time.

"Did he have a heartbeat?"

"…Yes." Alec went on.

"Did he have the ability to pronounce his emotions in the form of words, yes, yes he did." She on, and then glared at them. "So he was human." There was no form of arguing with Clary when she was stubborn.

Jace drew his arm away. A ghoulish freckling of blood marked his face. He still reminded her of a lion, with his widely spaced, light-colored eyes, and that tawny gold hair. "She can see us, Alec," he said, ignoring the last words, though he was amused at the battle. "She already knows too much."

"So what do you want me to do with her?" Isabelle demanded.

"Let her go," Jace said quietly.

"Maybe we should bring her back with us," Alec said. "I bet Hodge would like to talk to her."

"No way are we bringing her to the Institute," said Isabelle. "She's a _mundie._"

"Or is she?" said Jace softly. His quiet tone was worse than Isabelle's snapping or Alec's anger. "Have you had dealings with demons, little girl? Walked with warlocks, talked with the Night Children? Have you --"

"My name is not 'little girl', it Clary, Clary Fray…" Clary interrupted. "And I secondly, I wouldn't know, I've been grounded for about a month."

"Clary?" It was Simon's voice, she quickly stabbed herself with Alec's blade, without a second thought. She whirled around. He was standing by the storage room door. One of the burly bouncers who'd been stamping hands at the front door was next to him.

"Are you okay?" He peered at her through the gloom. "Why are you in here by yourself? What happened to the guys -- you know the ones with the knives?"

Clary stared at him, and then got in character, "Where the hell have you been? Do you know how scared I was? One of them stabbed me." She went on and yelled the bouncers for their stupidity. "I could have been killed, do you know how fucking slow you are?" she demanded and got no response, behind her the three children were giggling. "Well, what the hell are you doing here now, go after them now." She commanded them and they turned and fled. Only Simon stayed, she sighed and held her arm.

"Are you okay?" he asked.

"I'm fine," she answered truthfully and led Simon out. Before closing the door, she turned back to Jace and winked.

Behind her, she could hear Isabelle giggled.

~~~…~~~

"You're sure you're fine?" Simon asked as he hailed a cab.

"Yea."

~~~…~~~

"You're sure you're fine?" asked Simon as Clary bandaged herself in the kitchen after reassuring her mom and getting yelled at by both her parents.

"Yea."

~~~…~~~

When Clary heard someone cough behind her she turned, she had already yelled at her mother, and Luke and now sitting with Simon, whom she was pretty sure was trying to convey his love for her while trying not to listen to Eric's terrible poem. She almost fainted. "You know now that I think about it, I'm not sure I'm fine." Clary told her friend and they both ditched the reading and went home.

~~~…~~~

**Just because I love Jace that much but I would've wanted to see more.**


End file.
